Understanding 1 Peter 4:6

  

In my last blog I looked at two challenging verses in 1 Peter 3 (verses 19 & 20) which have been interpreted in many ways by various people, and which still cause discussion today. The richness of 1 Peter is that such passages are not limited to chapter 3 and there is a particular verse in Chapter 4 (verse 6) that has also raised many questions over the years. Before we look into it I should say that all the rules and principles I mentioned previously still apply and this is my personal interpretation of the verse. Other may see it differently, but here is the passage:

With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. [1 Peter 4:4-6]

Verses 4 and 5 are fairly straightforward, it is verse 6 that may leave us puzzled, but let us start with the overall point Peter is making. Peter is talking about the suffering we may have to endure as Christians, potentially because we have changed our attitude to the world, and, as he says in verse 2:

The time for living like the world lives has now ended. [1 Peter 4:2]

And so, we come to the verses above. Because of this difference the world is both surprised at, and then abusive towards us because of our changed lifestyle. That is what we read in verse 4 and is fairly straightforward:

this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you. [1 Peter 4:4]

and verse 5 is equally straightforward:

but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. [1 Peter4:5]

Peter is assuring his readers that whilst they may be persecuted and abused, they should not fear. Even if those who oppose them go unpunished in this life, those people will ultimately face God’s judgment. So much of the purpose of 1 Peter as a whole letter has been to comfort those who are suffering and to assure the readers that there will ultimately be a righting of wrongs, justice will be served, and as such they can endure the sufferings they may be facing.

That principle helps us to understand the somewhat tricky following verse:

For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. [1 Peter 4:6]

The question we must ask is “who is being preached to?” That will help us to understand this passage. They (whoever they are) are clearly now dead, and therefore the gospel was preached to them whilst they were alive, but are we talking of those Christians who have been persecuted and have now died or those who were doing the persecuting and have now died?

If we take the second option first it does not make much sense. The whole thrust of Peter’s letter is that they (the persecutors) will be judged. Having died they have passed the point where they can repent of their sins and so will stand before God as those who opposed his people and his will, and so it makes no sense to talk of them as:

those who might live in the spirit the way God does. [1 Peter 4:6b]

The verse does however make more sense if we consider the first option; Peter is referring to Christians who have been persecuted for their faith and have now died, and it makes even more sense when we remember the overall context of the letter of bringing comfort to those who are suffering.

Peter is saying:

You have been persecuted for your faith. You have declared that you are living to a different standard (God’s will) and the world does not like that. You have been persecuted, and just as the crowd hurled insults at Christ on the cross saying...

If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. [Matthew 27:40]

...the crowds might be saying to you; "Where is your God? If he exists, he will stand up for you." However, God, in his permissive will, has allowed that persecution to take place and even allowed people to reach the end of their lives without seeing any earthy judgement or consequence applied to those who have been doing the persecuting. Indeed, those persecutors might well now be saying “we have won – we have persecuted these people and there has been no consequence – we have judged them according to our rules of what is acceptable and not.”

And in response to that cry Peter is providing two -fold comfort to his readers. Firstly, justice will come, and secondly, you have nothing to fear.

In verse 5 he says:

but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. [1 Peter 4:5]

There is the assurance the ‘justice will come’, and in verse 6 he is responding to this valid cry from believers “we have been persecuted and have seen other persecuted who have now died and nothing has happened. Where is God’s justice? By the way, we see a similar cry in Revelation where the saints around the throne cry out for justice:

They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"  [Revelation 6:10]

Peter responds to this cry when he says in verse 6:

For this is why the gospel was preached even to those [Christians] who are [now] dead, that though judged in the flesh [persecuted and judged according to the world’s standards] the way people are, they [Christians] might live in the spirit the way God does.

You may be judged by the world, but fear not, the gospel has been preached to you, and received by you so that you might live in the spirit, in eternity, as God does.